Operating Systems

A new architecture for operating systems, which handles classes and objects, instead of traditional "applications" and "data files".

The situation today is that applications tend to grow in size, due to demands on increased functionality. There are also many overlaps in application functionality. Take for instance popular end-user applications, which all have their proprietary text and graphics editing, mailing services and spelling checkers etc.

By breaking down application barriers, and by making it possible to add classes and objects to the system which can easily be reused by several applications, lower development and maintenance costs, increased standardisation and reduced application size can be achieved.

The current status is that this architecture is planned for future versions of operating systems from vendors like IBM, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. The commercial pioneer in this field is NEXTSTEP from NeXT Computer, Inc.